Children&#39;s feeding tray



Aug. 4, 1964 R. J. CARBON! CHILDREN'S FEEDING TRAY Filed Nov. 6, 1965INVENTOR RALPH J. CARBONI AT'TO EYS United States Patent 3,143,374CmDRENS FEEDING TRAY Ralph J. Cor-bani, 327 Sharon Drive, New Orleans,La. Filed Nov. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 321,889 6 Claims. (Cl. 297-188) Thepresent invention relates to an improved childrens feeding tray and moreparticularly to a childrens feeding tray which is especially adapted foruse on a high chair.

One of the major problems in feeding children is that the children oftengrab the bowl in which their food is placed and attempt to overturn it.With younger children or infants the problem is more of one in which thechilds uncontrolled swinging of the arms is likely to over-tip or knockover the bowl; or in fact, knock it entirely off the high chair tray.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved childrens feeding tray which is especially adapted for use on ahigh chair or a feeding table.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a lockingmechanism which prevents the feeding tray from slipping a high chair orfeeding table.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a feeding traywhich is both simple and inexpensive to use and yet is simple andinexpensive to produce.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant inventionwill be apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a feeding tray of the present inventionattached to a conventional high chair tray;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 taken from theback; and

FIG. 3 is a persepctive view of the tray of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken from theside.

Referring now in detail to the drawings; there is shown in FIG. 1 a highchair of conventional design which is commonly used for the feeding ofinfants and young children. The high chair 10 is provided with aconventional tray 12 having a raised rib 14 about its entire periphery,which raised rib portion is intended to provide a wall to maintainarticles on the tray 12.

A feeding tray of the present invention shown generally at 16 isremovably attached to the high chair tray 12 and is capable of assumingunder tension substantially the contour of the upper surface of the highchair tray 12 and its raised rib portion 14. In general, the feedingtray comprises a bowl section 18 adapted to contain food and at leastone integral means attached to the bowl section 18 for attaching suchbowl section to the edges 14 of the high chair tray 12, such attachingmeans being, for example, hook-like devices 20 and 22. The feeding tray16 of the present invention is preferably fabricated from resilientmaterial such as polypropylene, high density polyethylene, high impactpolystyrene, vinyl coated sheet metal, or similar materials. If formedof plastic, the device may be injection molded; or the device may beformed by stamping and/or fabricating.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3 is formed of a unitary and integralconstruction. The feeding tray 16 has a generally elongated shape and isadapted to attach across the width of the high chair tray 12 such thatthe rear attaching means 22 hooks over the back of the high chair tray12 while the front attaching member 20 hooks over the front edge of thehigh chair tray. As shown in the drawings, the bowl 18 is preferably inthe form of a rectangle or square when viewed from the top and the backwall 24 of the bowl section 18 merges directly with the back attachingmeans 22. While only one attaching means, such as either hook 20 or 22,is essential, it is preferable to have two and these are preferably hookshaped in order to directly grasp the edges 14 of the high chair tray12. It is preferred to not only make the attaching means 20 and 22hook-shaped, but to also provide them with a spring-like resilience sothat, taking attaching means 20 as an example, the resiliency of thedevice will cause traverse contact lines 26 and 28 to be urged towardseach other, while the high chair tray 12 will force such lines 26 and 28away from each other. In such a case the attaching hook 20 acts as acoil scroll and effects a pinching force adjacent edge 14 of the highchair tray 12.

Intermediate the front wall 30 of the bowl 18 and the coil scroll 20 isprovided a planar element 32 which serves to connect the bowl 18 and thefront hook attaching means 20. Due to the raised edge portion 14 of theconventional high chair tray 12, the feeding tray 16 is provided at bothends and as part of the attaching means 20 and 22, recess portions 34and 36 which correspond to a seat in which the rib 14 of the high chairtray 12 may seat. The recess 34 beneath the bowl section 18 isparticularly important since, if the bowl 18 is deep, the recess 34 willrequire that the bottom of the bowl have a curved configuration.

Since it is conventional for high chairs 10 to have a strap 36 connectedfrom the high chair seat to the rear of the high-chair tray 12 in orderto insure that the child does not slide out of the chair, the back wall24 and the back coil scroll 22 of the feeding tray 18 are provided witha slot 38 through which the strap 36 may pass freely.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention and thereforethe invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification, but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. An integral one-piece, molded infant feeding tray having a generallyelongated configuration and adapted to attach across the width of ahigh-chair tray comprising, a first hook means adapted to hook about theback edge of a high-chair tray, a bowl section immediately above saidfirst hook and integral therewith and adapted to receive food, a planarelement extending from the bottom surface of said bowl section andintegral therewith and extending beyond the front-most portion of saidbowl section, and a second hook means extending from the front-mostportion of said planar element and integral therewith and adapted tohook about the front edge of the high-chair tray.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one of said hookmeans comprises a resilient coil scroll.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein both hook means compriseresilient coil scrolls.

4. A device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said coil scroll extendsthe entire width of said planar element and wherein said feeding trayhas a substantially uniform width along its entire length.

5. A device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said first hook means hasa horizontal recess at its backmost portion extending across its entirewidth, which recess is adapted to provide a seat for the raised portionof a conventional high-chair tray edge.

6. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first hook means hasa centrally located slot extending from its free end up to said bowlsection.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent 2,672,182

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,726,838

' 1,455,026 Iorgensen et a1 May 15, 1923 5 18 928 1,805,015 Schulze May12, 1931 Howell Jan. 19,

4 Gwin et a1 Mar. 11, 1954 Ripley Dec. 13, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS FranceMay 19, 1914 (1st Addition of 462,520) France Aug. 10, 1905 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFIGATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No.. 3 143 374August 4 1964 In the grant lines 1 and 12,, printed specification line 3and in the heading to the JD 'C0rb0ni" name of inventor for "Ralph eachoccurrence,, read Ralph Ja Carboni Signed and sealed this 17th day ofNovmeber 1964.,

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

1. AN INTEGRAL ONE-PIECE, MOLDED INFANT FEEDING TRAY HAVING A GENERALLYELONGATED CONFIGURATION AND ADAPTED TO ATTACH ACROSS THE WIDTH OF AHIGH-CHAIR TRAY COMPRISING, A FIRST HOOK MEANS ADAPTED TO HOOK ABOUT THEBACK EDGE OF A HIGH-CHAIR TRAY, A BOWL SECTION IMMEDIATELY ABOVE SAIDFIRST HOOK AND INTEGRAL THEREWITH AND ADAPTED TO RECEIVE FOOD, A PLANARELEMENT EXTENDING FROM THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF SAID BOWL SECTION ANDINTEGRAL THEREWITH AND EXTENDING BEYOND THE FRONT-MOST PORTION OF SAIDBOWL SECTION, AND A SECOND HOOK MEANS EXTENDING FROM THE FRONT-MOSTPORTION OF SAID PLANAR ELEMENT AND INTEGRAL THEREWITH AND ADAPTED TOHOOK ABOUT THE FRONT EDGE OF THE HIGH-CHAIR TRAY.